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Tuesday, January 19, 2010

The Land of Necklaces

I cannot adequately express my love for accessories. Bracelets, Earrings, Necklaces, Scarves... You name it, I have worn it. My mom says it comes from my Great Aunt Jo who always wore her dangly earrings, even when she was cleaning the house. Well, I am happy she passed along her special gift to me.

You can imagine with the trend of costume jewelry that has been rocking the fashion world the past few years, I have really gathered quite a collection. Some might call this an "obsession" or a "sickness." I don't care, because if you make fun of me I will just buy a new necklace and that will make me feel all better. ;)

Exhibit A:

No, this is not a child's costume dress up closet. It's not backstage at a Broadway musical. This is one of my happy places.... The Land of Necklaces.

You see, once the necklaces got bigger... and longer... a regular jewelry box just wouldn't cut it. I simply couldn't properly accessorize when all of my necklaces were jumbled together in a box. Blasphemy.

To solve this conundrum, I came up with a fabulous idea of using an over the door towel hanger/coat hanger to store all my necklaces on the back of my closet door. Since my "brilliant and unique" idea, I have seen it suggested in about 3 different magazines, but whatever. I thought of it first. Okay? The only drawback to this wonderful storage system is that when I open my closet it makes a super loud jingly-jangly noise when the necklaces bang against the door... I personally think it sounds like angels singing... Mr. Fo finds it a tad annoying. Well then maybe he should just build me a special necklace closet. But that's for another post.

Since it's not really practical to show you all my necklaces, I will just showcase a few favorites:

Gray flowers with amber colored crystal centers? Be still my heart. Go to Lulu's.com and see if they still have it. I am sure they don't because who wouldn't want to purchase this masterpiece? You should check out Lulu's anyway though... super trendy and affordable.

This silver, black and pearl combination really topped off my Christmas morning. Santa Claus (via my generous in-laws) must have thought I was a good girl this year, because he gifted me with this gem. Dear Boring Black Shirt: You won't be boring for long. You can purchase this at New York & Company.

For a pop of color, I like to throw on this green number I picked up at Anthropologie. Three strands of glass green beads? Yes, Please.

This piece of architecture was another gift from Santa. Interesting story. I was planning to wear this to ring in the New Year when all of a sudden I realized the clasp had broke. Catastrophe - I had to call in for reinforcements. Thank goodness for Mr. Fo, aka MacGyver, who fashioned a replacement clasp with dental floss and some good old fashioned imagination. Crisis averted. Dear Banana Republic: I love you, but please don't make cheap clasps. Thank you.

And finally... all good Jackie O girls must have...

A wide array of pearls. Huge pearls, little pearls, double strand, triple strand, REAL pearls, FAKE pearls ... I have these all but I somehow keep finding different MUST HAVE variations. Not to mention the pearl earrings, bracelets and rings, but we don't have time for all that. Just know that Pearls and I are BFFs. And nothing can come between us.

Please note that 99% of these items were purchased on Sale or Clearance. I absolutely refuse to pay full price for anything, especially nowadays. I think I have demonstrated that you can be fully accessorized on a budget - right?

In closing, this post was for 2 reasons: 1) To show other obsessed women (or men) how to organize their overabundance of accessories, and 2) simply to celebrate one of life's simple pleasures.

6 comments:

Oh you ARE extreme! I must say I haven't been a good girl when it comes to accessorizing but that green necklace of Anthropologie. Well honey, that's enough to give this girl some inspiration! LOVE THAT NECKLACE!

favorite: green. i feel like the flowers in the first one are brown not gray? love all of them. the apt next to ours is almost open to be rented. please move in so we can share accessories. this would be an excellent deal for me.